Shortland Street
| Shortland Street | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Medical drama Soap opera |
| Created by | Jason Daniel |
| Directed by | Lauren Porteous Mana Epiha Emmett Skilton Curtis Vowell Mia Blake Jacqueline Nairn Ian Hughes Ghazaleh Golbakhsh Geoffrey Cawthorn Samantha Scott |
| Starring | (Ensemble) |
| Theme music composer | Graham Bollard |
| Composers | Graham Bollard (1992–2019) Sam Watson (2019–2023) William Philipson (2023–current) |
| Country of origin | New Zealand |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 34 |
| No. of episodes | 8,215 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
|
| Producers |
|
| Production locations | 8 Tolich Pl, Lincoln North, Auckland 0610 New Zealand |
| Editors | Anna Benedikter Matthew Allison |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 30 minutes (inc. adverts) |
| Production companies | South Pacific Pictures Grundy Television (1992–2006) Fremantle Australia (2006–2023) All3Media International (2023- present) |
| Original release | |
| Network | TVNZ 2 |
| Release | 25 May 1992 – present |
| Infobox instructions (only shown in preview) | |
Shortland Street is a New Zealand prime-time soap opera, a medical drama, centring on the fictitious Shortland Street Hospital. The show is broadcast on TVNZ 2 and produced originally by South Pacific Pictures and subsequently by Grundy Television and its takeover company Fremantle Australia, airing from the 25 May 1992 it is New Zealand's longest-running drama and soap opera, being broadcast continuously for over 8,000 episodes and 32 years (as of December 2024). It is one of the most watched television programmes in New Zealand and is broadcast internationally in numerous countries including Canada and several European and African countries.
The show was originally screened as five half-hour episodes each week, and received mixed reviews on its premiere. After its launch, the show suffered a drop in ratings and would have been cancelled if TVNZ had not ordered a year's worth of episodes in advance. TVNZ renewed the production in early 1993 after the show's ratings picked up, and the show has since garnered "long-term public enthusiasm". Today, it is one of New Zealand's highest-rated shows, frequently making AGB Nielsen Media Research's top 5 programmes of the week, achieving an average linear daily reach of 345,000 viewers (in the year to June 2021) and is TVNZ's "most streamed show".
As of 2025, the soap airs 3 episodes a week at 7pm on TVNZ 2, with a repeat at 11pm on TVNZ 1, followed by another repeat the following day at 11am on TVNZ 2. The show was renewed for another season in mid 2025, with episodes airing as of 16 February 2026 on the same three nights a week schedule.